


The Highgate vampire

by theseatheseatheopensea



Category: Department S, Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Case Fic, Crossover, Elemental Weirdness, Gen, Supernatural Elements, Team as Family, Treat, Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21646774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseatheseatheopensea/pseuds/theseatheseatheopensea
Summary: Highgate, North London. December 1969. Fragments from a very straight-forward case.(Or: a case told in 10 drabbles.)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





	The Highgate vampire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thisbluespirit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisbluespirit/gifts).



> Hi thisbluespirit! Thank you for prompting these excellent fandoms! This story was so much fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it! Have a wonderful holiday season! <3

The cemetery is quiet. The graves and monuments are silent.

A man walks in, carrying a thermos and a sleeping bag. He sits down, takes out a little notebook, and writes for a while. Then he shivers and goes to sleep.

A dark figure with glaring, burning eyes is watching.

The man stirs. He hears the ringing of a bell in the distance, like a dream. He opens his eyes. The figure seems to be floating slowly towards him. A red light blinds him, and the air turns cold. The figure stars at him intensely and then vanishes. 

He flees.

*

It's quiet at Annabelle's apartment. There's music playing, and Stewart and Jason are building a card castle. Jason has one of his usual mild hangovers, but it doesn't seem to matter, as the castle goes up, higher and higher.

Annabelle looks up at them from time to time. She's finished the crossword puzzle, and now she borrows Jason's cigarettes and his latest novel. It's a rare evening off for the three of them, and she's about to open a bottle of champagne, when the phone rings.

Typical.

They receive a briefing and instructions from Sir Curtis, and get to work. 

*

The case report is rather short and straight-forward. A man spent the night at Highgate cemetery, possibly on a dare. The next day, he wrote a letter to the local paper saying that he'd seen a strange, shadowy figure, wearing a hat and a red and black cape. The man saw the figure floating closer to him, and left immediately.

The case sounds strange, like every single one they get. They are used to dealing with all manners of weirdness, but there is probably a logical explanation to be found here. And finding it is their job. It always is.

*

Silver generally likes north London. But right now, he doesn't. The grass is overgrown. The cemetery is old and decayed. There is something wrong with time tonight. Here, the air is thick and heavy. The wind is slow, it sticks to the skin and upsets his carefully arranged clothing. _There's definitely something wrong_ , he thinks.

He's been sent to investigate these reports and to set things straight. His senses don't pick up anything strange right away, but he does hear a noise, coming from somewhere in the darkness.

He's got company, then. Good. This is going to be quite interesting.

*

Annabelle, Stewart and Jason walk by, holding flashlights. She looks unimpressed, while they argue in loud whispers.

"Of all the times to leave your gun at home, Jason!"

"Please. We've been through this before. You know it ruins the line of my suit! Besides, I'm not worried. You two will protect me."

"Look at this," Annabelle says, as they reach the pond. "A thermos. The man must have dropped it when he left."

"Very interesting!" Jason says. "But shouldn't we be looking at _that_?"

They look up. Just like the report said, they see a shadowy figure, slowly approaching them.

*

One of the men is dressed in stylish clothes. Silver approves. Anything can be made better by a shiny cravat. But he can't get distracted. He snaps his fingers. They aren't supposed to see _this_.

"Did you see that?" the sharply-dressed man says.

The other man frowns. "I thought I did..."

"Nonsense!" the woman says. "There's nothing there!" She points her flashlight at the pond, and they see nothing but dirt and leaves.

"Let's go," she says. "We can use the computers and maybe find something."

Silver sighs. That was close. Now they've left, he can deal with it properly.

*

The figure doesn't move. It looks suspended in time, but Silver knows better. There's an evil glow around it, and it's best to be sure. He closes his eyes, snaps his fingers again, fiddles with time _just so_ , and the figure is frozen for good, many years into the past. One can't be too careful these days.

Well, that was easy. That means he has time to pay a visit to that pesky Department and cover his tracks. And possibly amuse himself a bit. Otherwise, what's the point?

He walks away, whistling a timeless melody. His mood is quite improved. 

*

They've researched reports and sightings for hours, but haven't really found anything. They might as well call it a day.

Annabelle gathers up flowcharts, punch cards and papers with code written on them, tidying up her desk for tomorrow. They might be leaving for the day, but the job is never really done.

She piles up books and manuals, and picks up a newspaper that has slipped underneath them. She could have sworn it wasn't there before. But she is obviously more tired than she thought.

An article on the second page catches her eye. 

"Listen to this," she says.

*

"Occultists claim to have discovered a vampire king... a nobleman who practised magic in Romania... brought to England in a coffin in the 1700s... buried in Highgate... no grave matches this description... found to be a ruse staged by two would-be magicians..."

"Well, there's our explanation. Perfectly logical!" Annabelle says.

"We could have spared ourselves last night's outing!" Stewart says. 

Suddenly, Annabelle shivers. "That's odd," she says. "It's cold in here. Can you feel it?"

Stewart and Jason nod.

Silver snaps his fingers. Again.

She is too smart. It's either that, or he's getting careless. And he can't have that.

*

At Annabelle's apartment, Jason pours them a drink and announces "Vampire King of the Undead" as the next Mark Caine novel. Stewart and Annabelle laugh.

Silver will have to make sure that there's more champagne and adventure in their future. 

For now, he listens to the computers' hum as Annabelle types reports and calculations. He considers humans and their machines. He doesn't really know what to make of them. But he looks at these three and finds them to be an unlikely but effective team, a bit like himself, Sapphire and Steel. And he supposes that's a rather good thing.

**Author's Note:**

> The explanation for the [Highgate vampire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate_Vampire) is perfectly logical, of course! ;)


End file.
